My intention was not to do it in parts and test everyone's patience. Given the time it has taken me to catch up with everything related to work and a general up tick in activity gives me no choice but to take a bite at this elephant in small pieces. By no means am I trying to author a novella, so please bear with me as I get to this is in parts to unveil the ins and outs of my angling misadventures in a far away place I call home......

PART 1:

After a grueling set of flights, some delay thrown in here and there, sprinkled with some utterly unprofessional behavior by airline staff, I finally managed to reach India in one piece and for once so did my bags. After a few of days of work, family time with a trip or two with the in-laws, boy was I ready to hit the water.

On one fine, semi hot and mildly sticky tropical morning I happened to wake up the neighborhood rooster. I hit my favorite spot known for GT's where the rocks stick out of water, smack dab in the middle of a crisp clean beach. Man was I happy to be there, a mild breeze on my freshly fully shaven face hitting spots I didn't know existed in a long long time, smell the moist salty air, and not a single soul around to disturb me, I was truly in angling nirvana. All I wanted to at that point was connect with a nice GeeT!

With the rosy daydream still playing in my head, I was all rigged up and ready to make that first cast. >INSERT RECORD SCRATCH NOISE HERE< First cast and boom! KNOTSVILLA WTH! This shouldn't be happening to me! I had researched everything and followed every guideline, what had just happened? how could I've caused this? With all these thoughts going on in my head I was also amazed at my uncanny ability to bugger it all up in the very first cast. To my credit however after birds-nesting several times on a nymphing fly rig with 0.006" thin lines so successfully, you'll learn quickly how to get around a knot or two, a million in this case however. So I patiently got to it and started untangling them one by one, I realized that it was probably not bad enough as I was able to work them free pretty easily though it took me a while. All this while I could see the orange halo popping up behind me. I had to hurry up, I wasn't going to let these knots ruin my outing today.

After recovering myself from the knots horror, I started to throw a 2 oz popper farther and further out each time and reeling in under tension. I think this was the key and finally I was able to chuck it consistently without any drama. Slowly but steadily I was gaining confidence in my rig. All this while I was throwing poppers for a good 15 or so mins and didn't feel any takes or any surface activity. Pretty soon I swapped it out for a ~1.5 oz Rapala stickbait in Sardine color. By now sun was almost above the horizon.

To my good luck the bait activity started to pick up and I could see them jumping here and there albeit not in a particular pattern. So I ended up throwing the surface stickbait over them and reeled in through all the commotion. The lure hit the water and dropped the bail, BAM! something massive had just snatched the lure and managed to pull my arms out of the sockets! As you know I am exaggerating here, but I am not, well may be a tiny bit. But the hit was so massive, something that I was never used to. The thoughts in my head at this point, "I was supposed to set the hook, I think I just did it by lifting the rod, not a friggin' trout set man, yank the friggin' rod, that's a fish of a lifetime right there" and so I did. Before all this excitement one thing I had done while I changed out the lures was tightened the drag, please don't shake your heads, I am not sure why I did it either. The result, the line tightened, and the fish decided to head for the rocks. The swell was pretty strong during the incoming tide, I could've swam to the rock to help me fight it better. I ran trying to horse the fish with my rod, the fish however had different plans for me by hugging close to the rocks when it took off while the sticky drag was trying to holding it in place. And then the line snapped......... AT THE FRIGGIN' FG KNOT MAN! If that wasn't bad, the fish stole away approx $15 worth of leader, swivel, clip and lure along with it.

After that I think I kind of went mental, I wasn't wanting to spend time messing with a FG knot all over again until I was sure I could do it right. So I ended up using a Palomar Knot on the braid to a swivel, tie a 5' FC leader to it and Palomar Knot a TA clip. All this took me a less than 5 mins and I was ready to work the water again. May be the Sardine lure color was the ticket that day, cause since the first bite, nothing seemed to happen and the bait activity died as soon as it started. Having accepted defeat and hanging my head in shame, I slowly exited stage left as the sun was almost beating its harsh heat on my back. If that wasn't bad, on the drive back home I was stuck in a god-awful traffic for a long time.

All in all not a good first outing, but a lot of lessons were thought to me that day. Then I came home to find out that my work cellphone was in my pocket all this time while I was knee deep in water with an occasional swell rising above knee level. The result of which was a water damaged iphone! ay ay ay! So far it seemed to me that I wasn't catching no breaks, let alone a decent fish!

Watch this space for more stories on absurdities while fishing.... Stay tuned as more is to come......

PART DEUX:

After an initial round of setback and the unending teething-troubles with the surf setup, I was still determined to catch the one I lost. It very well might have been the fish of a lifetime, made me question my intention to run a light setup like I did, "ALWAYS BE 100% READY, 100% OF THE TIME" -A Wise Angler. So have my plans to fix the mistake, I never really strategically thought about this process to be honest, however I carried out necessary research but the hands on experiences give this a different dimension altogether.

With that in mind I stepped up my scouting game at every available chance I could take. If I could sneak away from work or family for even a couple of hours I could be found somewhere along west-coast of my hometown, trying to redeem myself. From what I can recall from my early days of fishing with my uncle were the tide movements, the need for a moving tide while targeting the GeeT's. This may not be a necessity along reefs, but at places without this just might be the ticket. The place we used to frequent several years ago is now prohibited to general public and I was in for a surprise. Another long story for another day, I just laugh at it now, but it wasn't funny when it happened, LOL. Long story short, it is now illegal to trespass the breakwater (despite no posted signs), but you can legally fish on the beach side of it.

So naturally I showed up back there at the crack of dawn as the waves started rolling in, again all being done legally. The swells that day weren't bad, but just full moon phase had just passed a couple of days ago and the barometer was pretty steady for a long-long time, was clawing me from within. While it might not have been an ideal time to go find fish, it surely beat sitting at home wondering if it was one! Of course I did all this with all due prior permission from the MRS, I wasn't going to burn my hands again and lose my license to fish, one time was enough. Again, water was pleasant, wind was calm, and it was mildly cooler as well, without a soul in sight for miles together, I was again hoping for my luck to turn for the better.

Having learned from my past mistakes and now with a more hands on knowledge of my surf rod tool, I was ready to take up on this challenge. Got my feet wet to wade into the surf and I could see bait activity ~200 yds away from me, I was already at the legal limit. Boy, I was hoping today I would catch a break from my Shakespearean play of a fishing adventures, but guess not! I chucked plugs, too short. I chucked Rapala x-rap's, too short. I chucked Bomber long shot's, too short. Finally I got a chance to try out the GT Ice-cream. I think I might've emptied the spool if I'd put some oomphf into this next cast, I really wasn't ready for what was going to come next. I see this thing flying out like a missile, playing the "going-going-gone!" commentary in my head. This lure casts into the next continent if you throw it right and know what you're doing.

Despite being pretty intimate with my surf setup by now, I still wasn't going to my back into the cast with this heavy 3oz lure in case something gave way during the cast. But nothing like that happened, the cast went through, still a frog's hair short of the bubbling on water surface. My intention was to cast beyond the action and then pull through it. But I guess I was in for a surprise nonetheless, may be in all the mayhem I was pulling through pretty fast as I could see fish chasing the lure. I didn't want to slow down at this point and lose a strike, so I kept retrieving at the same speed. And then wham! I saw a minor explosion on top of the water and my line went tight. At this point you might be thinking "I hope this guy didn't tighten the drag enough to lose this one as well". Aha! I knew it, despite my best efforts to shoot myself in the foot, I miss sometimes to my utter surprise. This moment was one of them. As you see, when I was rigging up, I ensured that I pulled on the line enough to ensure that the drag was setup right or at the least close to being right. Which came to my rescue when this fish decided to grab my lure for breakfast. I was amazed at slickness of this drag, there was absolutely no startup stick, this reel and this style of fishing was winning me over. The way this fish was fighting didn't seem pretty big for this rod setup, may be it wasn't and I didn't know yet as I couldn't see the fish. Pretty soon I did and when I did, I was petrified of losing it. Waiting for the waves to break-over around the rocks, I jumped into the knee deep water fearing losing this fish if lines were to hang up around the rocks. Grabbed its tail the very first chance I got and held it with my dear life, I wasn't going to lose this one, no sir. Waded back to shore to take this pic.

Although not a giant or a record breaker by any means at 3KG, I was and still am beyond pleased to have been able to connect with the bad-guy of the reefs, a fish with so much character and fanbase across the globe! To me this was a total beauty, the fish the experience and everything in between. It is catches like these that makes you jump with joy like a five year old again, which I am guilty of being still being one! I had a grin stretching across my face when I finally landed this thing, took a picture and then released it. I still unable shake this feeling off, from the explosion on top water to the drag flicking dance. I wish I could relive it again and again from where I currently am, but alas! I guess it'll have to wait until my next excursion across the pond.

BTW, I took this picture from a phone I borrowed from my mum, my apologies for being gun-shy for not wanting to Baptize it while attempting to capture the release video/pics. But rest assured that this hooligan made it's way back to terrorize numerous mullets!

I returned home with nothing but my washed out footprints left on the sands of a pristine beach still pretty, still clean and hopefully stays that way for a long long time. All I had to show were a pic or two of my exploits and brag about how I caught the rogue of the reefs! My father-in-law was however jokingly displeased and wouldn't believe me until I bring home a catch to feed the family, he was wanting proof that I could feed his daughter in times of a zombie apocalypse. Well that's a story for another day, hope you are pleased at my amateur capacity to make a picture look better. If you'd like to see more, you could join me on IG, if it is against the forum policy to post social media details, you can send me a PM.

Hope to see you here again soon with another slice of my escapades in an angling nirvana I call home. Tight lines...

Last edited by Ulygun on Sun Feb 18, 2018 1:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

I am sorry for the misadventures that occurred but it is a learning experience that all of us have gone through.

1. Birds nest ... Penn reels are notorious for wind knots and the Battle 2 is no exception (although improved over the previous version). Would have been avoided if you had the time to practice with the new outfit while you were in the States but we know how hard pressed you were for time.

2. FG knot ..... the number of times this breaks or gives way under pressure is heartbreaking and I feel for you when you lost that fish. Cinching it as tight as you can beforehand with gloves on helps but even then the FG knot can give way mysteriously. Glad you had the Palomar knot in your repertoire!

On the positive side, you had a decent fish on at your first attempt ...... I went entirely fishless and without a bite on a not so recent tour to Kerala !

Although frustrating for you, it was an enjoyable read for us and we look forward to your next instalment!

Great report Ulygun, and an excellent write-up. I loved reading the report, waiting for the next update to this chapter.I tried the FG knot, but gave up because I couldn't tie it well, but I am sure its a good knot if you tie it well. I just use Uni knot mostly, with braid ---- Swivel ---- Fluoro/Mono leader ---- TA Clip . I don't fish much from the rocks, and so I never had any issue with line/knot breakage from surf. Palomar is a simple effective knot and I use that as well. Keep us updated !!

I was actually thinking that it was all going on well, at least in terms of what's been going on with that first fishing outing with you having some kind of an action and everything, until I read about your iPhone. That'd suck! Sorry to hear that! Otherwise it seems like a pretyy good to me though. Looking forward to hear more from you. Keep them coming....

@Kingfish, thanks for the kind words and sorry to hear about your Kerala trip report. My apologies at not being helpful on location specific details as I haven't fish much over there.

Quote:

1. Birds nest

2. FG knot

You are now officially a member of our spin fishing fraternity!

After the first sad attempt at surf fishing, I have to be honest as I don't recall any bird-nesting beyond that point. As far as FG knot is considered, as you'll see from my future posts to come as to how well braid holds Palomar knot. My leader after the FG knot failure was something similar to Binu's, where I had braid >>Palomar Knot<< 5' 40# FC (1/2 rod length) >>ball bearing<< TA clip >>lure<<

As far as the cellphones go, I was able to borrow some here and there, lol! This would be my 3rd water damaged work phone and a light record by itself for 2017 at my company.

If I were allowed to walk the jetties then I could've possibly targeted some schooling GT's with the fly rod from close proximity. With that being said, the surf rod was an ultimate tool to target them from the shore no doubt! GT IC is a bomb no doubt, I was able to gain more distance after casting it repeatedly to gain familiarity with it while hoping nothing would break...

binu wrote:

I tried the FG knot, but gave up because I couldn't tie it well, but I am sure its a good knot if you tie it well. I just use Uni knot mostly, withbraid ---- Swivel ---- Fluoro/Mono leader ---- TA Clip . I don't fish much from the rocks, and so I never had any issue with line/knot breakage from surf. Palomar is a simple effective knot and I use that as well.

Thanks a lot for the kind words bud. Since the first few attempts, I think I have figured it out finally and I finish it off with a Risotto knot. I watched this video of an Asian kid on YT with an Aussie accent, just killing this knot! a must watch. I have tried it with a spin gear I had at home from a long time ago (Shakespeare UL 7' max 3/4oz + Shimano Sienna, now w/ 30# 8x JBraid 110yds + 10' 30# FC) and I went pier fishing this past weekend. Although I didn't connect with anything but the rocks, where I eventually got stuck a couple of times and I didn't break off at the FC knot. That still doesn't mean it can hold up against a big GOM bull redfish! LOL.

My go to leader setup when and if the FG breaks while fishing is Braid <<Palomar knot>> Swivel <<Palomar knot>> 5' FC leader <<Palomar knot>> TA Clip. This is how I caught most of my fishes from Indian surf.

Hope all is well with the prep for east coast Striper season.

lure_fisherman wrote:

I was actually thinking that it was all going on well, at least in terms of what's been going on with that first fishing outing with you having some kind of an action and everything, until I read about your iPhone. That'd suck! Sorry to hear that! Otherwise it seems like a pretyy good to me though.

By the way, why don't you post the picture here in IA anyway? Just asking!

Thanks for that Maruthu. Yeah the deal about the phone was a bummer no doubt. There is a silver lining to this story as you'll see. What sucked more was losing that big-big fish! It would have been so much more satisfying if I were able to land it. When I posted the second part to this story, I was way out in the country with a slow satellite internet connection which was made bear-able fast by denying image or video auto download. So I had to improvise. I plan to post pic instead of IG link however during my next edit to post for the third part of this so far never ending campaign.

Nice writeup, enjoyed reading it. Since your first fish broke the line at FG knot most probably the knot is not tight.I vouch by FG knot, it is a very strong/strongest knot and it can take up all the beatings from the guides while casting and still hold strong, unless you have not tied it properly.I watched the Rizutto finish for FG knot and I would say Half hitch knot is simple and hold very well. I can tie FG knot in couple of minutes.It is customary to gift lures and leaders to ocean god/ fishes while learning FG knot, but once you master it, it is the go to knot.The secret in tying the FG knot is tightening the wraps and I use a leather gloves to tighten the knot. I have cut down the finger tips of the gloves so that I can wear it and tie the knot.The lost fish is going to haunt you..

Despite the occasional grief with the FG knot, it is still the slimmest knot that I have tied and the easiest to tie if using the half hitch knot to lock it .... I have seen the Rizutto and it is just overly complicated. I don't see myself reverting to any other knot except the Uni knot.

As I have said earlier and as reinforced by Venkat , you have to tighten the FG knot with all your strength using GLOVES. This will ensure the knot seats properly and not give way under pressure when fishing.

If you don't use gloves, the braid will cut you to the bone! Just a word of warning to those who are tying the FG knot for the first time.

Even I have lost quite a few lures to FG knot in the beginning, but now I have perfected the knot and there is no turning back.initially the half hitches used to come loose, later I started ending the knot with some kind of reverse uniknot don't remember the exact name, had seen it online.

Also I heat the mono end to form a bulb. It does make a difference.

Do we have any glue available in India that we can apply over the knots to avoid slipping?

Think Feviquick is very safe, basically it is superglue, I used to keep live corrals, they use superglue to glue live corral skeletons, so I am very sure it is save, corrals are very sensitive to any toxins..I use a lighter on my knots where required.

A surgeons knot will not work as well where a FG not is required, specifically where you join a long mono/fluro leader to your braid so that the leader can flow smoothly through the guides when you cast. Having said this I have not used the surgeons knot in ages but I do not think if will flow as smoothly through the guides as the FG knot would. How does it hold braid and mono together is it secure enough?

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